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THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN IN POWER. 



SERMON 



ON OCCASION OF THE LATE CALAMITY AT 
WASHINGTON. 



/ 
BY REV. ORVILLE DEWEY, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH IN NEW YORK. 



NEW YORK : 
C. S. FRANCIS AND COMPANY. 

1844. 




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PREFACE 



The following discourse was delivered the Sunday after 
tidings were received of the sudden death, by the bursting of 
a gun on board the Steam Frigate Princeton, of the Secretary 
of State, the Hon. Abel P. Upshur, the Secretary at War, the 
Hon. Thomas W. Gilmer, the Hon. Yirgil Maxcy, late Ameri- 
can Minister at the Hague, Commodore Kennon, and the Hon. 
David Gardiner, lately a member .of the Senate of the State 
of New York. 

I need not say that in the course of remark to which I have 
been led in this sermon, no reflection is designed upon the dis- 
tinguished members of the Government, who have fallen vic- 
tims to this terrible disaster. If I had thought that their 
characters rendered them liable to moral censure, as political 
or private men, I should not have preached this sermon. It 
gives me great pleasure to record the testimonies which I hear 
on every hand, to their unblemished worth. 

Nor is it to be inferred from what I have written, that I re- 
gard our own Government as worse than others — worse than 
the best of those which exist in other countries. It was not 
my business in this discourse, to draw any parallel of this 
nature. I conceive that political affairs everywhere, are sep- 
arated to a lamentable extent from that conscience and sense 
of the divine authority which ought to govern them. 



iv PREFACE. 

Nor, once more, is the moral bearing of this discourse affec- 
ted in any degree by the question, whether there is any great 
decline and degeneracy in our political morality. In some 
respects, I believe there is. In others, I am told, and am willing 
to believe that things are improving. I do believe that there 
is a public conscience awaking and arising in this country ; 
and it is to lend my humble aid to its elevation that this dis- 
course is published. 



SEEM ON. 



Jeremiah, chapter ii, part of verses 21, 22, and 23. 

" A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and suppli- 
cations of the children of Israel. Behold we come unto thee, for 
thou art the Lord our God. Truly in the Lord our God, is the 
salvation of Israel." 

The awful event, of which tidings have been brought 
to us from the Capitol since the last Sabbath, has ar- 
rested the public attention, and it seems to demand some 
recognition from the pulpit. Well may it move us to 
deep meditation. Though we recognize no special pro- 
vidence in this event, yet there is a providence over 
all ; and that which hath spread dismay and sorrow in 
the high places of the land, should come down upon 
the heart of the people with some peculiar instruction. 

It is not my part on this occasion, to address words 
of consolation to the immediate mourners in this dread 
catastrophe ; yet I am sure that I may truly express 
our heartfelt sympathy, and that of the whole nation, 
in their deep bereavement. May God comfort them, 
and may he give power to their spiritual guides and to 
their many friends, as far as human power can go, to 
console them in their great sorrow ! 

But it is to us all, a solemn and heart-rending stroke 
of calamity. What attributes more awful could ever 
accompany the visitation of death ? On the deck of 
the proud ship, armed with death-dealing engines ; on 
that deck turned for the hour from its fated use, to bear 
a party of pleasure ; gaiety and smiles and womanly 
beauty taking place for the time, of the dread array of 



war ; there, while pouring forth from the dread est en- 
gine of destruction the volleyed thunder ; there, in an 
unexpected moment, in a time unlooked for, comes the 
awful recoil, and its blow falls not upon common 
men — but upon the high and powerful ; upon men who 
stood upon that deck in the full flush and pride and 
hope of earthly honor ! 

But it were vain and useless for me to dwell upon 
the circumstances of this event, or upon the horror it 
has spread through the whole country ; and I turn to 
consider its uses to ourselves. I am moved by it to say 
something to you upon a theme too little considered 
among us, I fear ; upon a theme that has as yet obtain- 
ed no just place in our spiritual teachings ; I mean the 
appeal of religion and conscience to men in power ; and 
that, not merely to the highest, but to all men who are 
put in trust for the common weal. 

The subject is proper for us to consider, and the oc- 
casion I think properly suggests it. The sudden and 
tragical death of two public officers, presiding over 
most important departments of State, with that of oth- 
er distinguished persons, seems to bring the call of re- 
ligion into the sphere of government. It is proper too 
for us to consider ; for we are all, if not the possessors, 
the creators of power ; and we all, by our opinions re- 
ligious or irreligious, are exerting an influence upon the 
power we create. We live in a land where the gen- 
eral sentiment, where the general conscience or w r ant 
of conscience, makes itself to be felt in the administra- 
tion of the Government. And the failure to entertain 
a serious and religious consideration of this matter of 
Government is, to my mind, at this moment, one of the 
most alarming aspects in the state of the public mind. 
We must be aroused, the whole country must be arous- 
ed, to a new consideration of this subject. And if I 
could speak to the pulpit of the country, I would im- 
plore it to awake to the duty of pouring a new life, a 
new conscience into all the forms and departments of 



political action. What might it not do, if it would on- 
ly conceive that this function belongs to it ! What 
might it not do, if it would speak out, to break up the 
too prevailing apathy, on the tremendous subject of 
public pecuniary default, which is now pressing upon 
the conscience of the people ! What might it not do 
to impart a higher character to the duties of voters and 
jurors, and legislators and magistrates; and to send up 
voices from our ten thousand churches, that should be 
collected and reverberated in tones of awful admoni- 
tion, beneath the dome of the Capitol ! 

This humble pulpit at least, shall utter its voice ; not 
harshly, not irreverently, I trust, either to God or man ; 
but humbly, as if the graves of the mighty dead were 
opened by its side. This day, in humiliation, in sor- 
row, with entreaty, will I speak to you; and while the 
wail of a great public calamity fills the air, and makes 
it heavy with sighs, I would ask you, and I would fain 
ask the wise and great of the land, to bow before the 
providence of Almighty God ; before that Being who 
lifts up and strikes down ; who doeth according to his 
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants 
of the earth ; and to whom no mortal eye shall dare to 
look up, and say, what doest thou ? 

Yes, my friends, religion, by this event, is brought 
nigh to power. The pride of greatness is smitten to 
the dust ; and, with the eloquent preacher, who ex- 
claimed on another and less moving occasion, we may 
say, " God alone is great ! " The bright day of pleas- 
ure and of pomp has sunk in sudden darkness. The 
war-deck, proudly trodden one moment ; lo ! in an in- 
stant it is a blood-stained altar ; and prayers of mingled 
terror and agony go up to heaven from it. 

And now when a stricken and reverent people gath- 
er around that altar, what shall we say to them ? We 
will speak to them of God, as the Governor of the 
world, of Him as the high and mighty one, from whom 
all rightful authority proceeds, and to whom all rulers, 



magistrates and ministers of State must give account. 
We will speak in other words of the religion of Office, 
the religion of Government ; of the veneration due to 
Almighty God, from those who stand in the place of 
God on earth. 

Must we not say, in the first place, that in these mod- 
ern times, this connection is, to a fearful extent, over- 
looked and disregarded? Nay, and is not this a pe- 
culiar and alarming tendency of our own institutions ? 
In the most ancient times, the king was also the priest 
of his people. In later days, under monarchical forms, 
Religion has been closely associated with the State; 
nay, has been made dependent on the State. We have 
thou ah t it wise to break this bond. But in setting Re- 
lio-ion free from the Government, have we not set it 
loose in our thoughts, from the great presiding order 
of the State ? We have thought of Government as 
an exclusively political instrument. Since it shall not 
support or control religion, it shall have nothing to do 
with religion ; and we have imagined, I fear, that it 
can go on prosperously without religion in any sense. 
Who ever thinks of asking concerning the candidate 
for office, whether he is a devout man ; whether he 
looks up to heaven for light and guidance ; whether he 
cares for the will of God ; whether he venerates that 
power above, in the fear of which alone, can there ever 
beany safe and just Government? Is it then to be 
thought strange or surprising, if the arena of our poli- 
tics is utterly bare and barren of that high influence ; 
if verdure and flowers from the mountain-side were as 
soon to be looked for in our beaten and dusty streets ; 
if the seat of Government is, during the session of 
Congress, a scene of stupendous immorality ; if the 
very idea of religion and sanctity there, meets but with 
the sneers and ridicule of a whole people ? I say not 
whatjustice or injustice there is in this estimate. I would 
fain believe that it is not the true one. I say not how 
much or how little religion there is in the hearts of our 



rulers ; I leave that to their conscience and their God; 
I know there are those among them who feel a sense 
of their sacred responsibility. But I complain — in grief 
and bitterness of sorrow I complain — of this state of 
mind among the people. I am struck with amazement 
and horror at this severance in the common idea of re- 
ligion from politics. It seems to me at times as if all 
faith in political morality and religion, had gone out 
from the heart of this nation. When we pray, as we 
do on the Sabbath days, that our rulers may be men, 
fearing God ; when we pray for our Congress, that 
God would breathe into the hearts of its members a 
true conscience and a sacred piety ; is there any pray- 
er that we ever offer in the sanctuary, which we so 
completely despair of having answered ? Oh ! my 
brethren has it come to this ? Are we in such utter 
despair of having conscientious and God-fearing legis- 
lators- and rulers, that we will not believe that Almighty 
God himself can make them such ? Would that this 
might be a monitory, a startling thought in the purlieus 
of the halls of debate ! Would that this thought might 
go into secret chambers, and say in some conscious 
hearts, "the great people whom we represent, even 
when on bended knees before God, pray in despair 
when they pray for us ! " I speak not this irrever- 
ently of our rulers; I speak it not indiscriminately; I 
say it with deference for their place; but out of this 
dread apprehension we feel, and I might say out of very 
agony, I must speak. There are interests involved 
here — of millions of beings, and of coming millions 
yet unborn — which will not permit us to keep silence ; 
which might open the lips of death to speak. We our- 
selves are parties to this high compact of Government ; 
and we cannot permit any man, because invested with 
office, to escape from this great bond. And I do say 
moreover, whatever be the truth, that this admitted 
severance of politics from religion and conscience, this 

•7 



10 

terrible distrust which has settled upon the heart of the 
nation, is such a calamity that we might well sit down 
this day, in sackcloth and ashes, to mourn over it. The 
wail that has risen from the late awful catastrophe, is 
not so mournful as this dark cloud of despondency be- 
neath which we are sitting. We can part with emi- 
nent men ; we must have parted with them in the course 
of nature ; but that which we are now considering, 
strikes a wider blow ; it strikes at a nation's life. 

I say, at a nation's life ; for unless this government is 
administered in a true conscience and in the fear of 
God, it bodes evil to us ; we have no right to expect 
good from it ; and it will never work out the good re- 
sults which we profess to expect from a free State. 
This is the second consideration which I wish to lay 
before you. 

I am willing to admit that in speaking of the divorce 
of religion from politics, I have used strong language. 
I have done so, not because this is the only instance of 
such fearful and fatal mistake. Religion is divorced 
also, and that too, alas ! by much of our religious teach- 
ings, from trade, from labor, from amusement, from so- 
ciety, from the whole of life. But I have represented 
this fact strongly in regard to office, because I think 
that religious principles are considered as having less 
to do with the administration of government than with 
any other department of life. And I have done so, 
too, because I believe that these principles are more 
important in this relation, if possible, than in any oth- 
er ; and because I hold also, contrary to the common 
opinion, that no man is so much bound to reverence an 
authority above him, as he who is on earth the repre- 
sentative and image of that authority. 

I say then that this reverence for God in the seats of 
power, is especially needful. What else can restrain 
the powerful but religion ? They are lifted above 
other men. In proportion as their power is great and 
their place is honorable, may they stand in selfish pride 



11 

and in scornful disregard of other men. They can 
injure and oppress, with greater impunity than others 
The insolence of power is proverbial. In all ages its 
hand has been heavy upon the poor and weak. Their 
cry cannot reach it. Office is an elevation towards 
heaven ; in proportion as it is raised high, have men 
less hold upon it ; and if heaven do not restrain it, what 
shall prevent it from using its very elevation to hurl 
down mischief and misery upon those below 1 It is 
one thing to vote for a war, in some lofty council-cham- 
ber ; unchallenged greatness there speaks the word and 
thence it issues the mandate, that cuts down millions 
with a blow ; but it would be a different thing to utter 
the dread sentence from the bosom of the great com- 
munity, where the pulses of human sympathy are beat- 
ing all around it. It is one thing to impose a burden- 
some tax, in the high Parliament or Congress ; but it 
would be another thing to ordain it in the humble abodes 
where it is grinding the poor to the dust. Power, alas ! 
has always been a lofty, cold and unsympathizing func- 
tion. In theory we should conceive of it as the very 
heart in the great system of public welfare, holding 
living ties with all around, and feeling to the quick, the 
vital interests of every part ; but in fact it is not so. 
Power I fear is the last thing in the world, that is to 
come under the christian law. Power, I say — power 
to influence the happiness of millions that lie in dark 
and undistinguished masses beneath it — I should not 
dare to trust it with any thing but with the fear of 
God. 

It is a perilous trust ; there is danger in high station ; 
danger to incumbent. The power of office, at once to 
fascinate and corrupt the mind, has been celebrated by 
the philosophers and satirists of all times. I confess 
that I do not altogether understand in what its fascina- 
tion consists. But certain it is that it exists. Office is 
sought with. an eagerness almost insane ; and there is no 
reputation so lofty — though a step from it to the seat of 



12 

highest magistracy would be a step downward — but its 
possessor is supremely anxious to take that step. The 
homage of one's fellows is doubtless grateful ; and the 
homage to office comes in a visible and tangible form ; 
and it reassures the natural modesty of superior minds 
to have their claims acknowledged and bodied forth in 
some visible form of grandeur. The drop of sweet- 
ness, perhaps at the bottom of the cup, is power ; pow- 
er to make and unmake, to appoint and ordain, to speak 
the word and it shall be done. But so it is, whatever 
be the cause, that around the high places of office, the 
contest of human life rages the fiercest. Just in that 
proportion are these places dangerous to the mind's 
equanimity, fairness and truth. Just in that propor- 
tion are the loftiest principles necessary to sustain it. 
Singular as the declaration mav be thought, the eleva- 
tion to office is a distinct call to piety, to prayer. The 
elected man should be upon his knees rather than upon 
the car of triumph. It ought to be accounted a brutish 
thing to step to the high seats of legislation and mag- 
istracy without an uplifted eye to Him, by whom kings 
reign and princes decree justice. So did not the pa- 
triarch kings of the elder world mount to their thrones. 
So did not the great Alfred account of his office. Eight 
hours each day did he give to study, meditation and 
prayer. Beautiful is the story of Solomon's call to 
preside over the people. " In Gibeon the Lord ap- 
peared to him in a dream by night, and God said, ask 
what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, thou hast 
showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mer- 
cy, according as he walked before thee in truth and in 
righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee ; 
and thou has kept for him this great kindness, that thou 
hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this 
day; and now, Lord my God, thou hast made thy 
servant king instead of David my father ; give there- 
fore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy 
people that I may discern between good and bad. And 



13 

the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked 
this thing. And God said unto him, because thou hast 
asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long- 
life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast ask- 
ed the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself 
understanding to discern judgment; behold I have 
done unto thee according to thy words ; lo ! I have 
given thee a wise and an understanding heart ; so that 
there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee 
shall any arise like unto thee." 

I have said that in high official station there is peril 
to the incumbent. There are indeed two situations in 
life, beyond all others, dangerous. One is to sink into 
the mass of city life, unknown, unregarded ; out of 
sight of the watching eyes of friendship and society. 
This it is that makes great cities to many, at once so wel- 
come, and so fatal to their virtue. The other is, to be 
placed above the range of the ordinary inspection and 
moral judgment of society. And although we hold 
strongly here, to the doctrine of responsibility to the 
people, yet it is responsibility to a partisan, rather than 
a moral judgment ; and it is true moreover, that office 
removes many from the immediate inspection of their 
friends and families. In this age of excitement too, 
and of change and peril, the burthen of office presses 
upon many with harrassing and almost overwhelming 
weight ; and it is found that not a few persons distin- 
guished in modern statesmanship, are resorting to oc- 
casional stimulants to supply a feverish strength to the 
overtasked body and mind. 

But the peril to the official man, of which I have 
been speaking as an argument for high and sacred 
principles, is not confined to him. Nay, it spreads it- 
self in infinite diffusion over the whole welfare of the 
people. 

It is the peril of example to the people. If the great 
are corrupt, vicious, dissolute, with what terrible effect 
must all this come upon the morals of a nation ! With 



14 

what terrible effect, especially, when through our low 
and corrupted maxims of judging, it is found that a 
man may be self-indulgent, licentious, unprincipled, and 
yet a great man still ; lauded in the public prints, lifted 
to the highest distinctions, attended by worshipping 
crowds, trusted with the care of the public weal. I 
know of no invasion of a people's virtue like that. 
What will the tempted young man say, when he looks 
upon such a spectacle ? Will he not say that vice is a 
mere accident — no vital thing, no damning evil — but 
only something high or low, as it wears the robe of 
grandeur or beggary ? Alas ! the very judgment of 
society is despoiled of half its moral power, by this 
fatal separation between public dignity and private 
honor and sanctity. 

It is a peril to the interests of a people. This comes 
in the form of legislation. If no high principle pre- 
sides over it, we shall have class legislation, sectional 
legislation, selfish legislation ; no broad and generous 
view to the public welfare. Compromises, not of sep- 
arate interests, but of selfish parties ; combinations and 
collusions to secure this point and that point of party 
advancement, and strifes and divisions that prevent the 
passage of wholesome laws ; long debates that hinder 
business, and help no man's wise decision — these will 
characterize the course of our legislative proceedings. 
One true prayer, in humble reverence for God, in dis- 
interested seeking of the public weal, one such surren- 
der of the heart to truth and right, one deep and lowly 
conviction that life is passing away, that soon other ac- 
tors are to come upon the stage to suffer or to rejoice 
for our doing — this, I say, would avail more to settle 
great questions in Congress, than days of wordy strife. 
Does the late awful visitation of God, inspire no such 
conviction? And without this, on what can we rely ? 
If passion is to lay its violent hand upon the great in- 
terests of this Republic ; if passion only is to utter its 
voice upon the momentous and agitating questions that 



15 

are rising before us, where are we to look for safety 1 
Why is it that we are anxious about the tariff question, 
Oregon, annexation of Texas, possible war with Eng- 
land, or the very Union itself, but for this reason main- 
ly — that we fear that no thoughts of responsibility to 
God, no solemn conscience, no deep calmness and con- 
sideration, no single regard to the general good, will 
enter into these high matters of public debate ? There 
are difficulties pertaining to these subjects, no doubt ; 
but the great difficulties are not intrinsic ; they do not 
lie in the questions themselves, but they lie in us, in our 
legislators and rulers. 

I am attempting to bring the feeling of conscience 
and religion into our political relations ; to show you 
that the sense of God's authority, as it should come 
every where, should come here also, and here pre-emi- 
nently. It is true that I am not speaking to rulers or 
men high in office. But I think it is meet to set up in 
our own minds, a just idea of what it behoves them to 
be. We are the electors of such. Our opinions speak 
to them, if we have no other means of audience. Our 
Government represents the public feeling. Let me 
purify the sentiments and maxims of the people, and I 
will purify the Government. I can conceive of a peo- 
ple so pure, that bad men could not be their Governors. 
No violence need be used. A simple, moral, majestic 
influence going up from the great bosom of the people, 
would enthrone itself in the seats of power. 

What then are the principles that are to govern us 
in the election and treatment of men in office ? 

I lay it down as a principle, then in the first place, 
that we should elect none but good men to office. 
There is a pernicious and fatal distinction between 
moral and political virtue, between private and public 
virtue, which ought to be done away. This terrible 
solecism by which a man may be great and lauded as 
a public man, and faithless and unprincipled as a pri- 
vate man, must be brought to an end. You will not 



16 

trust a dishonest man with the management of your 
estate, nor a licentious man with the guardianship of 
your children. Will you then commit to such men, 
the care and guardianship of the Republic 1 It is ut- 
ter, moral infidelity to do so. It is a shame to a moral 
people to do this. We have no respect for ourselves, 
we have no respect for virtue, we have no reverence for 
God, when we elevate notorious or known bad men to 
power. We have no right to expect God's blessing 
upon such a Government. It is to desecrate all au- 
thority, and to blight all reverence in the State. It is 
as if we set up an image of vice in one of our public 
places. In Geneva they have so erected a statue to 
Rousseau. I wonder not that they have outbreaks and 
disorders among the people there, which tend to bring 
distrust and contempt upon all free Governments. 

Do we consider what a contradiction there is be- 
tween our actions and our professed aims, when we 
elect bad men to office 1 We professedly aim, we real- 
ly must wish, that the Government should be well ad- 
ministered. We wish that there may be calmness and 
wisdom in debate, justice and disinterestedness in legis- 
lation, truth and honor in all our public engagements, 
and fidelity and dignity in the discharge of every high 
trust. We wish, we long, for all this, Never was 
there such a jubilee, such a deep and blessed satisfac- 
tion in this nation, as such a spectacle would draw 
forth. And yet we choose for this purpose, passionate, 
selfish, unprincipled, vicious, irreligious men. 1 say 
not, that we choose all such. But I say that we mind 
little in the selection of our candidate, whether he be 
such a man or not. We have really come to consider 
it, I fear, a matter of little consequence. 

I do not deny that there may be some difficulty at 
first, in adjusting the true principle to the guidance of 
our personal conduct. It will avail little for me to cast 
my vote for a good man, if nobody else will vote for 
him. But I assert the true theory of political morality. 



17 

And I do so, as knowing that the first step of the true 
theory towards practice, is the assertion of it. Let 
the people think of it ; this is all that we can expect 
now. Let them begin to take the right view, and learn 
to speak the right word. The right word will spread 
itself. Some people, some presses, and more and more 
of both, will cry shame upon the proposal to elect a 
bad man to office. Nor when I speak of bad men in 
private, do I mean to assert that they will certainly be 
bad men in public. But they will be, on sufficient temp- 
tation. They cannot be relied on ; to say nothing of 
the evil and demoralizing example. They cannot be 
relied on; for that scripture is true; "he that offends 
in one point, is guilty of all ; " he shows a want of prin- 
ciple that makes him unworthy of trust everywhere. 

On the whole, I care not in this matter of office for 
mere talent ; I care not for shining gifts, tarnished by 
private vices ; let them all be swept clean out from the 
seats of legislation and magistracy ; we can afford to 
part with them ; there are enough good men and true, 
in this country, to carry on the Government. Let the 
people say, " the man who importunes us for our vote, 
with no merit but his necessity, and no motive but his 
interest ; the man who defrauds us of our dues, or vio- 
lates the sanctity of our homes; the man who surren- 
ders conscience to base passion, in any of the walks of 
private life ; that man we. will not trust in a public sta- 
tion. No matter what his talents be, or knowledge, or 
skill ; integrity we cannot dispense with ; and we will 
not fool ourselves with the expectation that he will be 
true or just in the Capitol, who is not true or just at 
home." 

One more word, and I will close. Is the time never 
to come, when a great moral appeal can be made to 
men high in station ? Is the very idea of such an 
appeal to be treated as a sort of moral Quixotism, 
whose arrows must fall harmless upon the hide of Le- 
3 



18 

viathan power ; and is he who aims them, to be noted 
by the by-standers only with a shrug of pity, or a shout 
of laughter, at the simple and weak assailant 1 O, my 
country ! will not God have mercy upon thee, and 
send down his dread angel to vindicate the righteous 
cause among this people 1 What man, of all men upon 
earth, shall be held amenable to the loftiest adjuration 
that ever proceeded from mortal lips, if not he who 
stands in the awful place of power — heaven-delegated 
power — power for the welfare or woe of a whole 
mighty people ! Sirs, I would say, — though it is but 
a humble man that speaks the truth to you, yet by 
God's truth ye shall answer it, — if ye flout the majesty 
of the public weal, if ye scorn the sanctity of God's 
oath upon you, if ye spot the ermine of justice, or 
trample on the dignity of legislation, or turn the admin- 
istration of a nation's welfare into wiles and intrigues 
for yourselves, the sorrows of millions, suffering through 
you, shall yet make inquisition for the wrongs you have 
done ! What ! is every man answerable to heaven, 
and not those who spread the sway of their influence 
over ten thousand homes ? Have Presidents and 
Cabinet-ministers and Congress-men got leave to do 
their pleasure, without answering to God ? Have 
theij devised a mail, or hide-bound a shield against the 
great judgment 1 

Pardon me, my friends, I am transcending perhaps 
the bounds of calm discourse ; but there are thoughts 
in this connexion that move me ; and there are thoughts 
too that move me in a different manner. Why — I have 
often said with myself — O ! why do not the hearts of 
millions, elevating a few to seats of power, send pene- 
trating sympathies into those seats beyond all other 
places on earth ? Why are they as impenetrable as 
the icy thrones of the Alps ? Why does not a thought 
from the great bosom of the people — the anxiety, the 
asking desire, the prayer poured out in all churches for 
those that bear rule — why does it not touch them with 



19 

a sense of the sacredness of their place — touch them 
with some gentle consideration, some living sympathy, 
some paternal regard for the people they govern ? 
Why is it that public office, instead of binding upon its 
possessor the sense of responsibility as the very gar- 
ment in which he walks, seems to cut him on even 
from the duties and behests that press upon ordinary 
men in ordinary life 1 It is, in part, because this de- 
partment of morality has hardly yet come into the gen- 
eral account. It is because people do not expect public 
men to be pure. It is because the national conscience 
does not, with strict inquisition, look into these matters. 
Therefore it is that I have thought it my especial duty 
to draw your attention to this subject. And this is my 
apology, if any be needed, for having spoken strongly 
and plainly as I have done. 

My Brethren, I have now addressed you on themes 
that I deem to be of great moment. In the brief sea- 
son that has elapsed since I have recovered myself 
from the shock of this awful intelligence, that has 
reached us from the Capitol, I have had time but for a 
very inadequate preparation ; but I have spoken to you 
as I could. Say not to me that I have wandered out 
of my proper sphere. I have not entered upon the 
domain of party politics. I have not trenched upon 
the ground of the politician or the statesman. I have 
only advocated the building up in this country of a 
great national conscience — a conscience for the people 
— a conscience for their rulers. I have only attempted 
to bring the authority of God to preside over all the 
high functions and sovereign powers of the State. 

The occasion seemed to me to demand such notice. 
Never, I think, did an event occur in this country, 
fraught with such startling and awful monitions. It is 
a voice of God to this people. It is a voice of God to 
their rulers. It has brought a solemn pause amidst the 
strifes and intrigues of public office. It has spread an 
awful shadow over the domes of the Capitol, and ought 



20 

to consecrate it henceforward to humble wisdom, to 
serious deliberation, to the fear of God. It has scatter- 
ed the visions of ambition from the paths of the great, 
and shown them " what shadows they are, and what 
shadows they pursue." Even now it is difficult to be- 
lieve that Upshur, Gilmer, and Maxcy are dead ! But 
they are gone ! gone, in one awful moment, from the 
cares of public station below, to the retributions of 
mingled justice and mercy on high ! 

Will not this dread event carry home the appeal of 
religion to the hearts of men in power ? while the slow 
funereal procession has passed through the mourning 
streets of the Capitol, has not a deeper thought touched 
them, of life, and death and a judgment to come ? 
There is another procession that is passing ; the pro- 
cession of successive generations over this broad land. 
Labors and toils, busy commerce and bustling activity 
are in it ; but it is passing ! Gaieties and pleasures, 
household joys and marriages and feastings are in it ; 
but it is passing ! Ambition to be great ; strivings for 
place and power, intrigues of party, plottings and com- 
binations and conventions are in it ; but it is passing ! 
May the leaders in it know the grandeur, the solemni- 
ty, the responsibility of their great office ! May they 
remember that if they prove false to their trust, they 
will lead these uncounted multitudes to the grave of 
this glorious Empire ! 



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